A Flight of Raptors (Paws & Claws Book 2)

by Ralph Vaughan

  The pain is unimportant, she told herself. All that matters is getting this little fellow to safety.

  Sunny was still some distance from the sanctuary of the Library, the Hawk still slashing at her, when two dark shapes burst through the doorway and flashed past her.

  Yoda barked as if to wake the dead, the black-haired Pomeranian’s violent yaps forming a cannonade of sound that hit the Hawk almost like a solid object.

  What did hit the Hawk exactly like a solid object, however, was Levi’s densely muscled body, flying through the air above Sunny like a surface-to-air missile. Levi was a Dachshund-mix. His body was long and he had the barrel chest one expected from a “wiener dog,” and his paws were paddle-shaped, befitting a species designed to burrow deep into a badger’s lair; between body and paws, however, were legs such as no other Dachshund had ever possessed, long legs that allowed him to make leaps that others could only dream of.

  And it was one of those prodigious jumps that carried him over the fleeing Sunny and into the Raptor’s soft feathered breast.

  And he chomped.

  The Hawk frantically beat his wings forward, an action that drove it swiftly back, dislodging the dog. Barely avoiding slamming against two round columns that supported a carved lintel at the junction of the walkway, the vicious bird soared up, looped back, and came to rest atop the ornate crossbeam that had been incised with Egyptian motifs.

  Levi stood resolutely in the center of the walkway, back stiff, tail out straight, legs tensed, fiery eyes trained on the Hawk, who met Levi, gaze for gaze. Now that the immediate danger was past, Yoda stopped barking, but he still growled with soft menace.

  Behind him, Sunny passed into the safety of the house.

  “You’re making a big mistake, dogs,” the Hawk warned.

  “The mistake seems to be yours…”

  “The name is Gyre.”

  “Invading our yard, attacking our friend – those are very serious mistakes on your part, Gyre,” Levi continued.

  “She stole my prey,” Gyre accused. “She deserves death for that, and so do you punks!”

  “Come down here and say that!” Yoda shouted.

  Gyre grinned evilly.

  Yoda growled, but even a hothead like the little Pom realized the Hawk had an advantage over the dogs simply because of the disparities of gravity.

  “Make yourself scarce, Gyre, before you get hurt,” Levi warned, keeping his voice level and calm.

  “Brave words for a canine mutant,” the bird jeered.

  A multi-colored blur shot over the edge of the garage roof and flew toward the Hawk on the lintel. As the lean Calico cat landed on the crossbar, it reared and slashed with claws fully extended.

  Gyre screamed in fear and pain. He shot into the air, but not before the cat scored a few more strikes.

  “Tried to warn you,” Levi said mildly.

  “Good going, Groucho!” Yoda shouted.

  Groucho kept all his attention fixed on the Hawk, who beat his wings in such a way as to remain stationary about twenty feet above the yard, difficult for a Hawk, but not impossible.

  “Throwing yourself in with these mutts,” Gyre said, “you’ve inherited the same whirlwind, puss.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Groucho replied.

  “Bring it on,” Yoda urged.

  “Not now, not here,” Gyre answered. “When I return, I won’t be alone. In an hour. The Parrot in the back yard. Or else.”

  Levi glanced briefly over his shoulder at the partially open door to the Library.

  “You don’t even know what’s going on, do you, mutt?” Gyre taunted. “You have no idea what that goofy golden fluff-ball did, yet you rush to take her side.”

  While it was true that when Levi and Yoda rushed outdoors in response to Sunny’s frenzied barking they had not known anything of the details of the conflict, that bit of ignorance was unimportant. Neither of them needed to know the facts behind the attack, just that Sunny needed their help. There was between the three dogs a bond of trust just as strong as the bond of their friendship; not only did they respect each other’s judgement (even Yoda’s, though he was at times a bit impetuous), but an attack on one was an attack on all of them.

  And, in this case, that willingness to respond apparently extended to even Groucho, an outdoor cat who occasionally aided the Three Dog Detective Agency. On the other paw, Groucho hardly needed any urging to attack a sitting duck, even if that duck was a large and dangerous Hawk.

  “One hour!” Gyre shouted down. “Fail to comply, face the wrath of the Birds of Prey!”

  The Accipiter Hawk swooped down in a last gesture of contempt, then wheeled about and vanished north by northeast.

  With a final nod of thanks to Groucho, who still gazed longingly at the vanishing speck, Levi entered the house, Yoda close behind.

  Chapter Two

  Levi and Yoda found Sunny in the Dining Room, where she watched with great concern as the young Parrot’s injuries were tended by skilled and caring hands on a dining table covered with newspaper.

  “What happened out there, Sunny?” Levi asked.

  With an economy of words, Sunny told Levi and Yoda the events that had transpired in the back yard. Because she had heard the Hawk’s claim just before entering the house, she made sure they understood the lie that had been uttered.

  “He was not hunting that Parrot, just torturing it before the kill,” Sunny averred. “And since when do Hawks eat Parrots?”

  “True,” Levi agreed, “but Hawks, like all Raptors, are not choosy about dinner…creatures of opportunity as much as avarice.”

  “What I want to know,” Yoda interjected, “is where the Parrot came from. Is he an escaped pet?”

  “He could be,” Sunny allowed.

  “He could be a wild Parrot,” Levi pointed out.

  “In Chula Vista?” Yoda exclaimed. “You’re kidding.”

  “For years I’ve heard of wild Parrots, though this is the first time I’ve seen one,” Levi said. “No one knows where they came from, but rumors about them have been around for a donkey’s years.”

  “Levi’s correct,” Kim said as she leaped to the top of the couch where she could see better what was going on. Kim was an elderly (although she refused to confirm or deny any attempts to guess her actual age) Torby[7] who acted as Office Manager for the Three Dog Detective Agency. “Cats have told me about them for a very long time, but I’ve never believed the stories; guess I will have to at least admit the possibility that the wild Parrots of Chula Vista are real, since seeing is believing.” She raised up on her haunches. “The poor little fellow looks almost done in.”

  “He looks yummy,” remarked Little Kitty, climbing onto the back of the couch next to Kim.

  “Behave yourself, Little Kitty!” Kim warned her assistant, shouldering the younger cat so that she fell to the floor.

  Little Kitty landed, of course, on her paws, completely unharmed, but that did not stop her from shooting Kim a venomous look. She was a Calico, like her cousin Groucho[8]; at one time, she, too, had been an outdoor cat, but had been brought inside for her own safety – not only did she occasionally approach individuals better left alone (her jaw had been broken once by a sadistic kick), but she often could not figure out that sitting in the middle of the driveway was not always the best course of action. On the other paw, it was her habit of sitting resolutely in the center of the driveway that ultimately led to her being brought inside, so she was perhaps not as d-u-m-b as Kim and others often thought.

  As to her name, it was applied when she was indeed a little kitty. With the passing of the years, her tendency to think with her stomach had made the name more ironic than descriptive. But the name stuck anyway.

  “Kim is right, Little Kitty,” Levi said. “Behave yourself.”

  “Sure, whatever you say, Levi.” Little Kitty leaped back onto the couch and lay with her head on her paws. “Obviously, the Parrot is a client, and it would be wrong to eat a client.�
��

  “Your food bowl is always full,” Yoda said. “You do not need to eat a bird.”

  “A cat is a natural hunter,” Little Kitty avowed.

  “What’s that got to do with you?” Yoda demanded.

  “Yeah,” Kim sneered. “You’re blind in one eye, and can’t see well out of the other.”

  “You couldn’t catch a bird with…” Yoda started to say.

  “Hey!” Levi barked, silencing the trio.

  “The three of you are making the little fellow nervous,” Sunny scolded. “If you don’t stuff a chew-toy in it, I’m going to grab all of you by the scruff and toss the lot of you outside.”

  Yoda, Kim and Little Kitty stared at the usually mild-mannered Sunny with nervous disbelief.

  “That’s better,” Levi commented. He looked to Sunny. “You okay, Sunny?”

  “Just a couple of scratches,” she replied. “Looks worse than it is. I doubt that Hawk will be back.”

  “Actually, I think he will be,” Levi said. “And he probably won’t be alone.”

  Levi told Sunny the outcome of the fight and related the demands levied by Gyre after Sunny had carried the Parrot inside to safety. As he did, he kept a wary eye on his colleagues. He wanted to be sure they all knew what they might be getting themselves into if they decided to help the little Parrot. For himself, though, Levi had already made a decision.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Sunny remarked.

  “Birds of Prey,” Yoda mused. “What does it mean?”

  “It means evil and cruelty,” said the young Parrot, climbing from a finger to grip the top rail of one of the dining chairs. “The Birds of Prey are our enslavers.”

  “You mean it’s a gang?” Levi asked.

  “We know how to handle gangs,” Yoda boasted.

  “Yoda, please,” Levi chastised. “We need information. We can do nothing without information. And we get information by…”

  “Listening,” Yoda sighed.

  “Who are you?” Sunny asked.

  “My name is Benedict,” the Parrot answered, “and the reason Gyre chased me and tried to kill me is because I am the grandson of our king, Christobal.”

  Levi settled to the floor, paws extended, head held alert and ears erect, in what was known in the world of dogs as the “Sphinx Position,” an attentive pose that could be held for hours if necessary. Sunny, too, lay down, as her wounds, which were indeed as minor as she had said, were tended to; Yoda lay down as well, but his posture was more lounging than attentive.

  “Perhaps you should tell us what is going on, Benedict,” Levi urged. “We want to help you, but we must know all the facts first.”

  Benedict bobbed his body and nodded his head. “I would be happy to, my friends, but first I must thank you, Golden One, for helping me in the moment of my greatest need.”

  Sunny grinned.

  “Before I tell my story,” Benedict continued, “please tell me who you are, and why you want to help me. In all our years of exile, no one has ever offered to help my tribe, which has led us to pursue a solitary and furtive existence, especially now that everything is so built up everywhere.”

  The others looked to Levi, for he was their alpha, even for the two cats, though they would have been loath to admit it.

  “They five of us comprise the Three Dog Detective Agency,” Levi explained. “We have made a conscious decision to work together to make our neighborhood a better place in which to live. We investigate crimes, solves mysteries, help the weak, and stop cruelty and tyranny whenever we can, for all animals, whether domestic pets or those who dwell in the wild.”

  “That is indeed a noble goal,” Benedict said. “Surely it was the will of Quetzalcoatl that guided me to you.”

  “Quetzalcoatl?” Yoda questioned.

  “The great spirit of the air, whom some call Thunderbird,” Benedict explained. “When the wind roars, it is the sweep of his great wings in passage, and when the clouds rumble it is his voice. Long have we prayed for deliverance from our captivity, and our faith has ebbed low. But now…” Benedict choked back a sob. “Perhaps now we will be delivered.”

  The cats and dogs nodded in understanding, for all of them followed spirits or cosmic truths greater than themselves, as did all intelligent beings. For the dogs, there was the example of Anubis, who set down the principles that allowed all canine beings to dwell peacefully with others, though many dogs were more noted for their disregard than their adherence, as well as the simple morality of First Dog, that primeval being who first came out of the darkness to approach the campfire. Domestic cats such as Kim and Little Kitty looked to Bast, a cat who once lived in Ancient Egypt, for a civilized pathway, though wandering feral cats often turned to the older ways of Primal Cat for solitude, survival and self reliance.

  “It all began long ago, when my grandfather and the other elders were taken from their jungle home,” Christobal began.

  And Christobal related to his new friends the tales and legends that had passed from beak to beak down the generations, oft told in the secret aerie of the Lost Parrots.

  “Wow, that is amazing,” Yoda breathed when Christobal finished. “All that time, under our very noses…or above them.”

  Sunny shook her head. “The Lost Kingdom of the Parrots.”

  “Yummy birds,” Little Kitty murmured.

  “Little Kitty!” Kim snarled.

  “You only like dry cat food,” Little Kitty sniffed.

  “I am not a beast of the field!” Kim snapped.

  “Cats!” Levi snapped. “Give it a rest!”

  “And the Birds of Prey?” Sunny urged. “Who are they?”

  “Because we have always kept ourselves to ourselves and never mixed with other birds in this region, we have always lived a peaceful, if insular life,” Benedict explained. “It is a course that ensured few enemies, but it also meant few friends as well. When the Birds of Prey attacked us, made us their slaves, there was no one to whom we could turn.”

  “And the Birds of Prey are…” Levi urged.

  “The Birds of Prey,” Benedict continued, “are six Raptors who live by enslaving other birds. Their leader is an Osprey named Ripper; the others are Hawks like Gyre, who was chasing me. Their names are Swoop, Vortex, Clutch and Courser.”

  “How do they enslave you?” Sunny asked. “What do they make you do?”

  “They make us bring them food, like mice and other small creatures,” Benedict replied. “It is not in our nature to hunt or to hurt others, for our own food is of the vine and the branch. Since they also delight in shiny objects, they force us to fly into homes and steal things. Because of what we are forced to do, we have become objects of loathing and hatred in our region, nothing but murderers and thieves.”

  “Could you just not refuse to cooperate?” Levi asked. “It has been our experience that when bullies are confronted with resistance or denial they often back down, for in the breast of every bully beats the heart of a coward.”

  “They hold my grandfather, and the other elders of the tribe, under close guard,” Benedict explained. “Were we to refuse, it would mean torture or death.” Benedict shuddered. “They have already proven they will not hesitate to carry out their threats.” He paused, then said: “My father, Tikal, tried to deny them what they wanted, and they killed him as a lesson to all.”

  “How did the conflict between you and Gyre come about?” Sunny asked. “Why was he trying to kill you?”

  “I…I fled from Gyre after a mission,” Benedict explained. “While he was eating, I was able to slip away unnoticed.”

  “What about your Grandfather?” Sunny asked.

  “I made like I was returning to our aerie,” Benedict began, “so Gyre did not first realize that I was going away to seek help.”

  “Where did you expect to find help?” Levi asked softly.

  “I thought that…well, somewhere…I heard…”

  “All right,” Levi said after a moment. “We can talk about that lat
er.”

  The other dogs and cats looked at their leader in confusion.

  “Where do the other Parrots live?” Levi continued.

  “For years we dwelt quietly in the ruins of the Shangri-la Restaurant,” Benedict replied.

  “Never heard of it,” Yoda, youngest of the pack, quipped.

  “It used to be way at the end of G Street, down by the bay,” Levi explained. “Its pagoda-like towers were really something, but it went out of business shortly after it started. It was too remote to attract customers.”

  “Yes, it was far from everything, even from our feeding areas,” Benedict agreed, “but in solitude we saw safety.”

  “You’re not there anymore?” Yoda asked.

  “It was demolished years ago,” Levi explained. “Leveled to the ground. Where do you go after that, Benedict?”

  “We wandered until we found the Vogue Theatre,” the Parrot replied. “It was dark and cavernous; we were delighted by the sounds and music that rose from the screen. When it went dark, it was not such a happy place, but still it was safe and dry. All that changed, however, when the Birds of Prey found us there.”

  “What do you mean it went dark?” Yoda asked.

  “The theater closed some years ago,” Levi answered. “It was a dark day when that happened. There’s now an opening in back, but there used to be one at the side, and I would sometimes go in and quietly watch the films. It was before you came to us, Yoda.”

  The Vogue Theatre

  “That is where my grandfather and the others are,” Benedict said. “I do not know what you can do. They are Hawks; you are – I mean no disrespect – dogs and cats. I want to believe but…”

  “What can we do, Levi?” Sunny asked as Benedict’s voice trailed to silence. “We fought off Gyre only because he came to earth.”

  “Okay, guys, what about this?” Yoda offered. “That Hawk will be back with his buddies, but we won’t be here. We’ll be at the theater, where there will be likely only one or two guards. Enclosed space, darkness, stealthy ninja dogs…we can get the drop on them. Hawks defeated, Parrots freed – dogs win!”